R.E.I.G.N. [Started] [ACCEPTING] [PG-16]

[Guest PikaPerson01]

(OOC: If her reasoning for killing Charles sounds crazy remember... she was in an insane asylum. <_<)

 

---

 

Walking down the street, clinging to the 19 year old, Constance closed her eyes, lead by him down the street. As she walked down the street, she recalled the meeting with Mr and Mrs Stranton a week ago, and the reason for Charles's murderer.

 

---

 

The blue haired sixteen year old had been introduced to Charles's parents, two hard working blue collared New Yorkers. The conversation quickly turned to the subject of her tutor, their son.

 

"We love our dear Charles." his mother began, a feeling of pride in her voice as she spoke of the boy. "He's in the top of his class, and we're so happy he found a girl like you."

 

"A... girl like me?" Constance questioned.

 

"Yeah, you're quite the looker-" Mr. Stranton began, before getting a light elbow to the ribs by his wife.

 

"What my husband means to say is you're truly a wonderful girl. So kind, well behaved, and of course... as my husband said," she laughed lightly before shooting her husband a friendly smile "a looker." No hard feelings.

 

"Yeah, you're like a daughter to us now. Like the daughter we never had."

 

His wife looked at him. "Ahh... yes." she looked down, a sort of dejected look to her.

 

"Wh-whats wrong?" questioned Constance.

 

"Well," began Mr. Stranton. He looked to his wife, half expecting another shot to the ribs. Her eyes seemingly encouraging him to go on, so he continued. "We've always wanted a wonderful daughter but... we're quite a low income family, so we couldn't afford to try for a second kid. Don't get me wrong though, Charles is a great kid just... my wife and I both sort of always wanted to have two kids, a little boy and a little girl... it kind of feels like we only ever got halfway there." He awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.

 

("So...") Constance thought. ("If they didn't have Charles... then they could have me as a daughter instead...")

 

---

 

"Your parents are pretty cool for letting me hang out so often." Constance smiled politely at the boy. "They... say I'm like a daughter to them." she smirked, a hint of cruelty to her smile.

 

"Yeah, mom and dad really love you." said Charles, his face turning quite red. He tried to look away from our darling little murderer. "And... I guess... I really-"

 

"Hold that thought! We're already right here!" Her face beamed at the sight of the Magnolia Bakery. "After all your hard work, I think you deserve a present!" She smiled. "Just wait right here for me."

 

She looked at her hands, putting on a pair of gloves as she entered the establishment.

 

---

 

"Good evening and welcome to Magnolia's. How may I help you?"

 

"A vanilla cupcakes please!" Constance smiled.

 

The cashier punched the order into her cash register "Sure thing sweetie, $2.75, with tax you total comes to $2.99." Constance raised a brow but reluctantly handed the young lady a five dollar bill. She knew her sweet little girl charms wouldn't sway a fellow female. Within moments, 2 singles and a penny were returned to her.

 

"Thank you for coming to Magnolia's and come again." the lady pushed the cupcakes towards the young lady, on the counter.

 

Constance picked it up, producing the vial from her pocket. She could probably tell the cashier thought this act looked suspicious. "Uhh... it's confectioner's sugar." She pointed to Charles, who could be seen through the window. "He loves the stuff." She continued to liberally apply the lethal powder onto his cupcake.

 

The cashier's suspicions were slightly alleviated at the Constance's words. "If you say so... well, that's sweet I guess. He's lucky to have a girlfriend like-"

 

Constance was already well on her way out the door, the cashier's words interrupted by the slamming of the door.

 

---

 

 

---

 

"I bought you a cupcake!" Constance smiled triumphantly.

 

Charles laughed. "Well, it's Magnolia's. They're known all over the world for their cupcakes. I'd be a bit more surprised if you got anything else."

 

Charles took the cupcake Constance presented to him. An expectant look in her eyes. An enveloping feeling of anticipation seemed to take her in.

 

"Oh, it smells like almonds." Charles took one bite, before speaking with his mouth still half full. "I didn't know Magnolia's sold almond cupcakes."

 

Charles began his second bite as Constance spoke, still smiling as sweetly as ever. "It's not almonds silly. It's potassium cyanide."

 

A blank expression on Charles's face as the words hit the boy. He could feel the blood swelling on the back of his throat. "You..." he stated, his vision blurring. "I..." his eyelids felt heavy.

 

"I'll tell mom and dad how much you loved them, don't worry." the last thing Charles saw was his darling Constance calmly walking away towards Rockefeller Center.

 

Charles collapsed to the sidewalk, dead.

[Magnet Soldier]

[spoiler=App]Name: Kristan R Clement. Aliases: Simon Sampson, Dr. Christopher Hreston, Mr. James Smith, John Robertson, Damien Nedler.

Age: 28

Gender: Male

Appearance: [spoiler=]

 

Clothing: Usually clothes in pic; A black shirt, a small cross round neck. He wears Jeans alot and a denim jacket. Wears glasses.

Personality: Kris is a creative, intelligent genius. He uses any killing method anyone has ever thought of, usually posion or a knife across the neck. He enjoys the sight of blood. He is usually calm, but goes into an insane blood lust when ever he sees blood or a blood red colour.

Biography: Born on the 22 of January 1982 in West yorkshire, England. He was raised by his mother and rarely saw his father, as he came home from work late. When he was ten, he came down stairs because of a nightmare to find his parents arguing. He was about to intervene when his father slapped his mum, and went to get a coffee. His mother saw him, and smiled. Kris couldn't take in the sight and ran up stairs. 5 years later, he was still haunted by that night. He came downstairs once to find his mum on the floor, drowned in a pool of blood. His father was sitting at the dinner table, a blood stained knife in one hand and a bottle of Vodka in the other. Kris looked at the knife, then at his mother, and flew into a rage. He lept at his dad and before he knew it, was sitting on the dead body of his formor father. His hands were round his neck. He looked at something in his fathers pocket and found a picture of a woman. He instantly assumed that his father had been cheating, so he started kicking his dad. Three hours later, he heard sirens. He grabbed his fathers knife and fled. He felt pain inside of himself so he started to commit murders. Most were small. But his endeavors grew. By the time he was twenty, he had murdered a thousand people. He soon became infamous, known for being the greatest murderer in britain. But soon, the cops were onto him. Although they had no Idea who he was, they knew where he was. He fled instantly. He weighed up his options, and chose the USA as his most profitable decision, as it had the most people to kill and the worst Cops. He also became famous in USA, and got caught. But he was the last to get captured, using the others as decoys. He is still proud of it, but people seem to want to kill him more for it.

 

 

Kristan sighed, wiping blood from his cheek. He looked down at the dead man, sympathetic. His eyes were bloodshot and wide, while his stance was calm. He grabbed a packet from his pocket. He popped the lid and put a few of the small white objects in his mouth. No, they weren't pills. "Tic-tacs. Always calm me down." Kris chuckled, pocketing the box. He yawned, and spun around to face a woman, staring shocked at him, reaching down for her phone. He was a little shocked himself, knives made no noise. Then he looked down at his hand, a blood stained object in it's self. "Oh, right." And he looked at the body behind him. The woman turned to run, but found herself with a knife coming out of one eye, the handle in the back of her head. "Funny how easy it is." Kris said, walking out of the alley.

[◇ Void ◇]

[spoiler=Appication]b]Name:[/b] Thomas E Terra. Aliases and Murder Nicknames: Master James Smith, Luccianno Bellani, "Dr. Jeckle and Mr Hyde", "Malefic".

Age: 15

Gender: Male

[spoiler=[i]Appearance:[/i]]

 

Clothing: The normal clothing consists of a Black shirt with the Number two printed on it, a Leather Jacket with Pale yellow stripes or a Black hoodie, Dark jeens with Vans trainers and A small Silver amulet.

Personality: Thomas has Two diffrent personatlys due to a Mental Disease he has Inhererated. There is the normal personatly which was one just like any Child, full of Life, hope and Amibitions but though his life has become A Frightened, Threatening and Hopeless teenager But is most of the time unable to tell a Lie. His Second personatly orginaly was Blank, just having basic emotions and nothing like a Normal personatly. But after viewing a Violent horror film he became psychotic, Mad and Just Wanted People around him dead. Well excluding the other murders since he seemed to amire them. The pair in his mind conflict and so doing meens changing from one to another can happen within a snap.

Biography: Thomas was born in England on the 13 of November, 1994 In a upper class Family living in London. Everything was normal until the age of 5, Somthing croped up. He started to experence moments of Blanking out from the rest of the world, Sudden reactions of headaches and Migrains. His parents was woryed for his wellbeing and so took him to Be checked over. After several Sessions of Brain scans, Psychotherapy and Consulting he was Diganosed with a Rare, Extreme case of Multiple Personatly Imatation Disorder; OR M.P.I.D. It ment if he was exposed to a Personatly and experenced these He could gain it permmatly. They tryed to protect him with no Television, no Internet, no Violent video games and mostly isolate him from the rest of the world. It did not work as one night, his fafter was half Drunk and was watching a Murder horror surival Film. He snuck in and saw it, His Damaged mind twisted by the Images. A second personatly was born and swiftly took Domanance. He grabed a Knife, walked up the creeky stairs, opened the Oak door and jumped apon the bed which his Parents slept apon that night. By when morning came Police was investagating the murder of His mom and dad while himself Not suspected of murder at the age of 9 was in Trauma center, His personatlys strugling to take agrip after the Terra Murders. Months later he was Sent to New york to live With his closest blood reletives. They did not last long. And the string of murders continued across the New york area, Meeting the other Lunatics and planing the linked murders. Somthing went horrably wrong there. Caught 5th He told the truth and Snitched out Kris From the shock. Now to this day they still strugle to take Total control of thomas with no avail for a Victor, Just taking turns to make there blood stained marks apon new york...

 

 

"Herers' Wer' Your stoping Boy. Now Beet' It!" The Ugly driver slured out while Smoking. Inside the back of his Truck was to him a Hitchhiker No-one who slithered into his soft zone by chance. And some Influence of Cheep Whisky. Un-noticed to this Disgruntled Trucker was he Had just returned to New york a Serial killer with a Serious Personatly disorder and one of the citys equivlents to Jack the Ripper, Along with the other 5 as equals. And he's just 15.

 

"Don't dare do you...", With a Raising of a Pistol and a Quick pull of the trigger in the Abadoned area The truck driver was Swiftly delt with, "...Kill him. You Monster.", "Just shut up, I dont listen to Myself." The Personatlys continued to Fight while He walked though the Alleyways until they Reached the Lower class apartments district which then it was Turning dark. People here were sour and Mostly not to be messed with. Perfect place to hide from the police.

 

"Now. Which one was my place?" He asked himself, "If you must know, Its the Nice corner one on the Right." His Normal side recluctent to reply. Upp the concreet stairs and into the Main Hallways there was a Small deck for which the Apartemts owner resided with a Paper. Crushing it with his hand he made Him A Little Annoyed until he knew who Had returned.

 

"Ter..Muhhhhhh!" His mouth was swiftly covered up to make sure there was no sceen, "Dont say my name in Public. If you want to Live.", "S-Sure. Now, i guess you want Your key back after your littel' Leave, Huh?" He asked. There was no reply but just a "Yes. Now give it to me" Look on his face. After a quick search from the Owner and a Banged head it was placed into his hand and Closed his hand.

 

"Your Place is just like you left it. And on-one has come searching for ya. So dont worry." Asurrances from a Middle aged man with a Bad wig and Looked like only a mother could love him. A quick glance from the pair and Thomas started to walk though the aged building to his Appartment.

[Spartan919]

Jason would have driven more than a mile...if the gas gauge hadn't started beeping. He cursed his luck, and pulled the mustang over. Looking around, he couldn't figure out where he had stopped, only that he was still in New York. He knew that the police would be coming after him, and soon, a smile crept over his face. Let them come for me. I haven't had any action for a long time. It's about time I killed some more cops. Besides, my new gun needs some more ammunition, and police corpses would be the perfect source. So...all I have to do is wait for them to come get me.

[.:Blu:.]

OOC: Sorry Aequitas, was very busy......

 

IC: Jace looked over towards the bullet hole. "(From the looks of it, that must be one strong gun.....)" Jace thought to himself as he adjusted his collar. "Alright we should get going." Jace stated as both him and Derek walked towards the direction of the auto shop. As they arrived, Jace paid the money to the mechanic and got his car. "Alright, hop in Derek. The prison's a long way from here. So we should go now, before it gets dark." Jace proclaimed as he reved up his engine. "We should get there in about an hour, maybe forty-five if we take the freeway and there's no traffic. However, I really doubt that....." Jace explained.

[Aequitas]

Derek nodded. "Right. If I'm correct, they all escaped individually, I know this because from what we can tell they aren't working together, so that means other people in the asylum may have got out as well," he scratched his head, "chief wasn't too clear about that..." Derek pulled out his phone and sent a text message. "He'll respond in a few minutes. Until then, I guess we can go. We probably should stop for coffee real fast, though, because it seems like it will be another all nighter."

[.:Blu:.]

Jace agreed with Derek then began to drive towards the coffee shop. "Well I gotta give credits to these convicts for escaping such a heavily guarded prison. Makes you wonder sometimes just what the human mind is capable of doing." Jace stated as he took out his cellphone from his pocket. He then placed it back into his pocket after turning it on. "Just in case anything happens, I'll be able to use my cellphone." Jace stated as the car stopped at the coffee shop. "Well let's go." Jace said as he exited his car. "After we get our coffee and doughnuts, we can go to the prison. Unless you don't want any doughnuts." Jace stated as he and Derek walked inside the shop.

[Hollow Ichigo!]

Kevin woke up scared and naked on a cold metal table. "What the hell is going on here." then an ominous voice nearly sounding like it was coming from kevins head said "Where is the drug." then he woke up again no one was in his office he was just in his bed and had a very long dream. "Dammit." he got up and walked to his desk and pulled out a special phaney pack. He was going to the rendevous point. In case there was gurads the phaney pack made it look like he was diabetic.

[Magnet Soldier]

As Kristan walked out of the alley, he looked normal. He was wearing ordinary clothes, a shirt under a Denim jacket and some Jeans, and wasn't acting suspicious. But if you looked closely, you would almost spot a small bulge from his right pocket. He walked towards a small coffee shop, and hoped they sold Tic tacs. A few minutes later, he walked back out, no Tic tacs in hand. He walked past a small apartment block to see a familiar face walking in one of the homes. "Tom!" Kris half hissed, half muttered. "That stupid snitch. I'll kill that boy." Cultin walked casually up to the apartment block, his hand gripping for the blade in his pocket. As he walked up the stairs, the fat man at the door almost fell off his chair. "Y-y-you. Your J-J-John. One of them. Ter.....I mean, the boy isn't..." Kris raised his free hand. "I have three reasons that he is in. Number one, you are sweating badly, which means you are obviously hiding something. Number two, his door is slightly ajar, which means there is someone in. And the golden third one, I just saw him. Now get him out here or this is going down your throat." Kris threatened, revealing the handle of the knife in his pocket. The man jumped up and practically ran over to Tom's door, and knocked rapidly.

[Aequitas]

As Jace and Derek walked in to the shop and the doors shut, Derek's phone went off. The ring was similar to a normal telephone ring rather than some random song.

"Got my text chief?" Derek asked quickly. Chief answered and said a few words, all of them Jace could not hear. "One sec chief."

Derek turned to Jace, whispering, "Yeah, they probably escaped individually, because around eighteen asylum residents escaped." Jace was opened his mouth to say something when Derek cut him off, "One sec, there is more."

Derek returned to the phone, saying "Sorry chief, had to tell Jace. What was the other thing you were saying...?" After a few moments, Derek sighed, said tiredly, "Alright. I'll go investigate it."

Derek put his phone back into his pocket, and turned to Jace, "First, no sign of Jason. Second, a murder just happened in front of some Bakery. A nineteen year old, male, killed by cyanide found in a cupcake. Main suspect is a blue haired girl, around fifteen or sixteen. Remind you of anyone?"

[.:Blu:.]

Jace was shocked that a murder had already occur so early. "Damn it....... we're late........." Jace stated frustratingly. He then remembered the killing method was once used four years ago by one of the lunatics. "So I guess Constance Sonnerie wants to make her name known again huh." Jace stated calmly. "And it's probably true about them escaping individually. If they were in a group, they would be caught easily. We better watch our backs, these convicts are out to kill us." Jace stated as he held out his cellphone and called the police station. After awhile of talking, Jace quickly put his cellphone back. "I told them to go look for the lunatics. The other six may not get caught so easily, but at least the others will be caught. They probably just escaped by sheer luck." Jace stated.

[Spartan919]

Jason stood behind the Mustang, waiting for the police. Soon, he heard the siren, and laughed to himself. Here they come, he thought eagerly. He pulled the magnum out of his shirt, and checked his ammo supply. He had five shots loaded, and he had five extra rings of ammo. Almost thirty shots...that would be plenty. He spun the chamber of the small revolver, then laid his arm on the roof of the red car to steady his aim. As the first cruiser came into view, Jason immediately pulled the trigger. He could tell that he had killed the driver because the car suddenly swerved and crashed into a building. As the other cruisers swerved around the wreck, Jason opened up, and let out a yell of ecstasy.

[Hollow Ichigo!]

On his way to meet the misterious person he saw a fleet of police cruiser's swerving and crashing and immidately he said "Oh sheet." he saw through the corner of his eye someone just kicking some police ass. "What the hell is going on." there was such a comotion with the crashing the cruiser's blocked of the street in the direction that Kevin was going. "Okay this is bullshit, time to pop a cap." He took out a 9mm engraved with the phrase vengence is sweet on the clip he was loading in, it also said it on each bullet. Waltzing over to the shooters car like it was just another day he drank his drug and accidentialy shot a cop infront of the shooter. "Ugh stupid po po."

[Guest PikaPerson01]

The girl slowly descended onto the subway, the E train was her target. As she descended, she spotted the swerving police cars. She giggled lightly to herself as she swiped her metrocard.

 

"Honestly boys, it's like you want to get caught." She shook her head in disgust, checking left and right making sure no one was around her. She removed her gloves.

 

"Killing one of their comrades will just make them angrier." The train Uptown bound E Train appeared, as she entered an empty car.

 

Constance took a seat. "But me... I've still got some revenge to serve." She produced a worn business card.

 

'Jim D. Sarlis, attorney at law.'

[Aequitas]

"So, we'll still go to the asylum as planned," Derek started. "And I don't want to sound like a wimp, but for now it seems best to figure how they escaped and retrace their tracks rather than search for them head on. People make mistakes, no matter how smart, not matter how insane. They will leave behind clues, and then we'll catch them," Derek paused. "Just like last time."

 

Derek took a few seconds to pay for the coffee and donuts. "Now, both Jason and Constance have revealed themselves. Luckily for us, they are the most recognizable of the six, one with an age issue and the other will long blue hair. The best possible tactic for us to utilize, besides retracing their steps, would be to lure them out individually, and then capture them in an act. Until then, we will have to search for them nonstop and give them little time to regroup and work together We don't know exactly how they came in contact with each other four years ago, but apparently they did, and it resulted in one of the bloodiest minutes, no seconds, in the history of New York. We just can't let that happen again."

[Hollow Ichigo!]

"sheet sheet sheet." he said loudly as a swearving cop car was heading straight for him. It flew at his head, he lifted up his arm and literaly sliced down the middle. "Thank you mr vice prez of a cryogenetics company." His arm was now revealed as a dark blue robot like thing. "I killed him but that bastard took my arm." He now was anxious of what could happen next. Seemingly random Kevin pushed certain spots on his arm cloaking it again. He got out of cover and walked towards the shooter. "Hey jabroni who do you think you are." he said as he pointed the gun to his face.

[.:Blu:.]

Jace looked at Derek and smiled. "Hehe, actually that doesn't sound wimpy at all. In fact that sounds pretty intelligent." Jace stated as the two walked back to the car. "It's gonna be difficult to lure them out however, they have no friends, no family, nothing. Most convicts usually want a material item, but these psychos are different. Oh sorry, I shouldn't refer to them that way. These mentally ill individuals are probably looking for something else. Most likely revenge on us." Jace stated as he started the car then took a sip of his coffee. "Boy, that's pretty hot........." Jace proclaimed as he put it in the cup holder. "Well, in any case, we should get going." Jace proclaimed as he drove away from the coffee shop.

[◇ Void ◇]

As thomas has Just walked into his Apartment he Heard Violent Knocking on his Door. With a Swift action he Grabbed his Gun, A 42MM Pistol. Quite Common and was used Many times, its original Black paint more of a Blood Stained Crimson with it showing the Gripmarks. Pointed at the Door he just wanted to silence the Annoyed Soul outside as His Insane side has Migrane from his Normal side "Winging" all the time and Needed Asprin. But as he aimed he Started to Hear Reconisable Cursing.

 

"-Gulp!- Its Kristian...Now look what you'v gotten ME Into!","ME?! Your the one who blabbed on Kris!","What?! Were the Same Person! Besides your the Murderer, not Me!","Oh, Is it going to be like that is It?! Dont Make me Take 5 Asprin again to just Submerge you!". The Mental fight between the Two Contined, Insane Thomas making a Threat to Kris outside;

 

"Dont even Think of it Kris, You Betrayed us and My Annoying Self betratyed You. Besides, Unless you want a Maggazine of Bullets being slowly extracted from you when your Dead i recomend you Push it and Dont come back!"

[Hollow Ichigo!]

Kevin suddenly opened his eyes, turned out he got knocked out. He look up and saw the car coming at him. "For some reason I dont think my arm will block this one." He tried getting away as fast as possible, but it didn't work the way he wanted it to. When the car finally landed shrapnel of the metal beast crashing behind him, cut Kevin in his left arm and on the left side of his face. "Damn." He said in agony as the metal shards were barley visible. They had sunk deep in his skin. A slow tear of pain rolled down his face, then his expression turned to hate in an instant. "Come here little bastards." He was now hunting the remaining cops with his 9 mm. He came up on one in a sneaky fashion. He put the pistol to the back of the police officer's head and said. "My arm hurts jabroni." he pulled the trigger with great force killing the cop with assassin like precision. He walked back to his SUV calmly and drove off.

[Magnet Soldier]

"Really." Kris said, smiling. He moved to the side of the door, while leaving his feet standing where they were. He doubted Tom would shoot the foot, because it wasn't the way Tom did things. Kris twisted the handle on the door, and opened it slightly, unoticed by Tom. Before Tom could react, a knife was in his leg, not deep, but enough to cause pain. When Kris heard the gun drop, he ran inside and pinned Tom. "Now, should I choke you, and make it painless? Or should I torture you slowly, snitch?" Kris smiled an evil grin, and raised his fist, letting it punch Tom in the side of the face. "I honestly cant decide."

[◇ Void ◇]

Quickly thomas took the 2 punches in the face, the second punch send a little blood spurt out from thomas' lip was cut by his braces.

"Ahh! Now what?! I dont want to die now!", "Like you would, You cant blame me for what my...Ok, well...That might not work. But your not going to kill me now, or never for that matter!" Thomas quickly grabed kris right hand in a Attempt to reverse the Pindown and swiftly a stuggle ensewed.

[Magnet Soldier]

"You son of a..." Kris cursed, but was cut off when Tom seemed to pin him. "You have some tricks." Kris pointed out. "But I'm a proffesional." And he twisted his body as he fell onto the floor. This made him land on his chest, and Tom go flying over him. Kris then jumped up and grabbed his knife again. "So, which one is it going to be. Quick and humiliating, or slow and painful?" Kris asked, his eyes screaming with bloodlust. He chuckled as he twirled the knife in his hand. "You know what? I cant decide!" And he lunged at Tom.

[Hollow Ichigo!]

"This has to end." Kevin said walking in to a local dinner. "These damn visions, I cant control what i see or do anymore." He grabbed a small bottle from his pocket, filled with glowing blue liquid. "Hey waitress." she came over "Make yourself usefull and get me some coffee." with disgust in her grin she replied 'right away sir'. Little did he know she had just spit in the coffee pot. Taking a sip of his saliva filled coffee, he went into a blind rage. "You stupid dumbass." He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a knife. He walked out and put it to her throat. "....I appologize you have to see this." he said as he awoke from his drug fantasy's and put the knife to his own neck. "Screw you world." he dropped to the floor and bled to death.

[Spartan919]

Jason continued killing the police, and when a man he recognized as another murderer appeared, he watched with avid interest at what he did. How curious. He is most interesting. Jason decided to follow him and see what he would do next. But first, he quickly ran over and grabbed a bunch of unused ammunition from some bodies of police officers. Then, he turned, and saw the man walk into a diner. He quickly rushed in too, then ducked into a booth. He saw the man take what appeared to be a drug, then walk into the kitchen and grab a knife. Seeing him slit his throat, Jason jumped over the booth, and rushed over to him. He wrapped a towel that lay nearby around it, and tried to see how bad it was.